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How to prevent your tree from falling

Last night I saw on the news that a tree fell over onto our local library. Just like, it fell over. No one had cut it down, bumped into it or even shove it. The tree is huge too. Now there is a gigantic tree in the middle of the non-fictions and young adult section. How bizarre is that? Additionally it got me to thinking…how? How could a massive tree simply tip over like dominoes? Is there any real scientific reason that would cause such a thing to happen? In addition, could it happen to my tree? How can I prevent something like this from happening to the trees around my house?

After I spent some time online researching, I figured out that it was one of three possible things that could have weekend the structure of that old tree causing it to fall over onto the library.

As it may, when a tree roots have been removed it causing it is based to become weak. If you are like me you might be asking, why in the world would anyone removed a tree’s roots? Moreover, how? The answer to those perfectly posed questions is sometimes a tree’s root may appear above the ground. To some people this is considered a hazard, tripping and all that, so they chop them away. Another scenario is if there is some type of construction going on, for instance repairing a sidewalk, in the midst of the worker breaking up the old sidewalk to install another one, he breaks the roots of tree. This too will cause its base to become weak, eventually ending in the tree falling over.

Another possibility is that there was a lot of weight place on the ground about the roots of the tree. Like when a truck drives on top of the ground loaded down with material, dirt, or just people. Last week the library was having its front façade replaced. For weeks, different type of work vehicle had been park under the tree. These work trucks were filled with cement, heavy marble, and stones to complete the work. When it was not filled to the brim with material the workers was sitting in the truck enjoying the shade of the tree. Can you guess the weight of seven full-grown men?

The last possible answer is the roots had contracted some type of fungus or disease. This weaken the trees immune system. Yes, they have immunes systems just as if we do, which cause the base to become weak. Therefore, it fell over.

On the other hand, it could have been a combination of all three, indeed the first and second possibility happened. Within days of each other. All that weight and stress may have been more than that old tree could handle.

In order to prevent something like this from happening in your own backyard, try strong, healthy trees. By regular watering, paying attention to its growth or lack thereof, consulting the services of a tree trimming business to encourage growth. In addition, by simply not making the same mistakes the city did when upgrading and improving our library. By taking a few extra steps, they would have saved all of us tax paying citizens thousands of dollars in repairs.